Roses Are Red, Buses Are Blue
by Nozomi-sama
Summary: Pencils can get stolen on buses. And red roses speak of romance. SasuNaruSasu.


{ written 04.27.08 for chibibble, the lovely sherrie-chan }

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto.

**Roses Are Red, Buses Are Blue**

They met on a bus. Uzumaki Naruto was the person who liked to sit near the aisle, one foot perpetually stuck out in the aisle, unintentionally inspiring murderous intent with his lack of tact and hazardously annoying personality. With energy in abundance, he was constantly shouting out and being a general pain. Understandably, Uchiha Sasuke was the person who turned up the volume whenever the orange-clad nuisance rode the bus.

At first, their acquaintance was a little strange with Naruto attempting to make goo goo eyes at Sasuke from across the aisle at any given moment in time and the dark-haired male pointedly ignoring him in reply. This all changed when the blond plopped down right beside Sasuke one day and asked to borrow a pencil. "I want to finish this crossword puzzle," he offered, by way of explanation.

Sasuke gave him a bland look. It seemed petty and unreasonable for him to deny this irritating guy the usage of a writing utensil. But he felt like being petty and unreasonable today, so he refused to root through his things to look for a pencil. Naruto griped and moaned and begged and "accidentally" tried to touch him in private places. Finally, he relented. A pencil was dropped into the blond's outstretched hand, accompanied by a sharp glare of contempt.

Later, when the moron had gotten off the bus, Sasuke realized that his only pencil had just been stolen. Scowling, he stared after Naruto's bright figure as the bus pulled away from the stop.

The next day, Naruto offered him a rose in replacement for the pencil. Sasuke made a face. For all their beauty, roses were frivolous things that died eventually. "But it's pretty!" the blond cried when he pointed this out. He emphasized this statement by waving the flower in the other's face.

"You owe me a pencil."

"No, I don't. I gave you a rose. You owe me a bouquet!"

Sasuke only gave him a blank look. Who exactly did this Uzumaki Naruto think he was? "First bring me a pencil."

Blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "If I replace your pencil, you'll buy me a bouquet of roses? Red ones?"

"First bring me a pencil," he repeated once more before drowning out any following words out with his music. Judging from the movement of his lips, Naruto was still talking at him. He gave silent thanks to the inventors of melodies and headphones.

‡ ‡ ‡

Eventually, Naruto brought him the pencil. All new and beautiful, a shiny, red bow wrapped around it as though it were the grandest present in the world. Sasuke appraised it, then the person offering it to him, with a skeptical look. Did the blond actually expect him to take it? From the sincerity in his blue eyes (very bright, very pretty eyes, he noticed), he guessed the answer to that question was yes.

"Uh, thank you?" he murmured as he took the pencil from the warm, tan hand. Wait; backtrack—the hand was most definitely not warm…or soft. Most definitely not.

"You owe me roses," Naruto sing-songed, effectively latching onto Sasuke's arm with no warning whatsoever.

The blond got off the bus that day with throbbing nose and a toe weeping from pain.

‡ ‡ ‡

After a whole week, Naruto noticed that no bouquet of roses had yet made an appearance in his life. He was making Sasuke's life as difficult as possible because of this. And, very slowly, he was talking, laughing, smiling, and pestering his way into the other's life. "Hey, bastard, where are my roses?" he would always greet.

Sasuke always gave him a look, rolled his eyes, and told him to shut up.

This game continued for a month as they got to know each other, learned little tidbits about each other's lives, and learned that there is a thin line between love and hate. Like a real gentleman, he showed up one day at Naruto's front door, cradling a bouquet of lovely, red roses. "Here," he muttered, shoving the roses into the blond's arms reluctantly.

"See, you love me," Naruto teased, sniffing the roses with great appreciation.

"Shut up, stupid, or I'm going to take those roses back."

"Shut up, bastard. You know I'm awesome and that you love me. So, what time are you picking me up?"


End file.
